Thursday, July 31, 2014

Library Boy on Hiatus During Month of August

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Indexes As Necessary as Ever in Electronic Age

Susannah Tredwell, librarian at Davies LLP in Vancouver and fellow member of CALL (Canadian Association of Law Libraries), wrote a piece last week on Slaw.ca about the continuing value of indexes:

It is sometimes assumed that a book that is being read on an electronic device does not need an index, as readers can use the search function instead. Although word search is a useful tool, it does not replace the index, since it fails to distinguish between irrelevant mentions of a word (e.g. “this chapter will not discuss SEARCHTERM”) and lengthy discussion of the subject (...)

There have been experiments in automated indexing, but these have not been as successful in producing indexes as those produced by humans. Human indexers are still better at understanding how readers look for information, and how the various terms used relate to each other.

A poor index (or no index at all) impedes the research process. Giving the increasing number of e-books out there, publishers may think that they can omit the index as it is no longer necessary, but, as has been mentioned above, this is not the case. The index remains a valuable tool for researchers no matter what the format of the publication.

The blog on the SOQUIJ site (the public sector Société québécoise d'information juridique) noticed Tredwell's Slaw post, adding that the principles she outlines also apply to the classification plans, taxonomies or indexes of legal research databases:

Monday, July 28, 2014

Recent Legislative Summaries from Library of Parliament

The Library of Parliament has recently published a number of legislative summaries describing federal bills:

Bill C-17: An Act to amend the Food and Drugs Act: "Bill C
-
17, an Act to amend the Food and Drugs Act (
alternative
title: Protecting
Canadians from Unsafe Drugs Act
[
Vanessa’s
Law
]), was introduced in the House
of Commons by the Minister of Health on 6
December
2013. According to its
summary, the bill amends the
Food and Drugs Act in order to strengthen oversight
of
pharmaceuticals and medical devices as well as improve repor
ting of adverse
reactions associated with these products.
The bill addresses patient safety issues
that were referred to in the Speech from the Throne
at the opening of the
2nd
Session of the 41
st
Parliament in October 2013
, including the need to ensure
that
(1)
drug
side effects are clearly indicated and (2) unsafe drugs are recalled quickly."

Bill C-27: an Act to amend the Public Service Employment Act (enhancing hiring opportunities for certain serving and former members of the Canadian Forces): "It amends the
Public Service Employment Act
(PSEA)
: by mirroring the provisions in Bill C
-
11,
2
introduced on 7 November 2013, to
grant priority for appointment in the federal public service to mem
bers of the
Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) who are released from military service for
medical reasons attributable to service; by adding new provisions to allow
: active members of the CAF who accumulate at least three years of service to
apply for positions reserved for members of the public service ( 'advertised
internal appointment process'); veterans who have been honourably released from the CAF after having
accumulated at least three years of service to have this same right during a
period of five years af
ter their release; and by amending the definition of 'veteran' to allow all members who have been
honourably released from the CAF and who have accumulated at least three
years of service to benefit from a 'preference'
in any external appointment to a
posi
tion in the public service if they meet the essential qualifications and once
priority rights have been exercised (the definition of a 'survivor of a veteran'
nevertheless continues to be restricted to the surviving spouse or common
-
law
partner of a vetera
n who served in the Second World War)."

Bill S-4: an Act to amend the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act : "Bill S
-
4 ... (short
title
:
Digital Privacy Act) was introduced
in the Senate
and received first reading on
8
April
2014. Bill S
-
4 amends the
Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act
,
the federal private sector privacy law
. It does this
in several notable ways,
including by
: permitting the disclosure of an individual’s personal information without their
knowledge or consent in certain circumstances; requiring organizations to take various measures in cases of data security
breaches; creating offences for failure
to comply with obligations related to data security
breaches; and enabling the Privacy Commissioner, in certain circumstances, to enter into
compliance agreements with organizations."

It is possible to follow the progress of federal bills, find links to
related parliamentary debates and other background information on the LEGISinfo website.

Law Reform Commission of Saskatchewan Report on Foreclosure Protection

"Foreclosure involves lengthy legal proceedings taken in the Court of
Queen’s Bench and is governed by several statutes, including The Land Contracts (Actions) Act (the LCAA). The LCAA
is consumer protection legislation intended to protect borrowers by
requiring lenders to obtain leave of the court before starting
foreclosure. The protection is provided as time: time to bring the
mortgage up to date, refinance, or sell the property before foreclosure
or judicial sale or, if that is not possible, time to find alternative
accommodation. The LCAA is 70 year old legislation, having been enacted in 1943. This Final Report considers the steps required by the LCAA for non-farm land mortgages and recommends reforms to better protect borrowers in current conditions."

The report looks at other Canadian jurisdictions, including B.C., Alberta, Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, PEI and Newfoundland and Labrador.

The ECHR hears complaints from individuals living in any of the member states of the Council of Europe about violations of the European Convention of Human Rights. The Council of Europe is one of the continent's oldest political organizations, founded in 1949. It has 47 member countries.

Statistics Canada Article on Police-Reported Crimes Stats for 2013

"The police-reported Crime Severity Index (CSI), which measures the volume and severity of crime, declined 9% in 2013 compared with 2012. This was the 10th consecutive decline in the index. The CSI was 36% lower than 10 years earlier."

"The traditional crime rate also declined in 2013 compared with 2012, falling 8%. It continued its long-term downward trend that began in the early 1990s, reaching its lowest level since 1969. Since 1962, the traditional crime rate has measured the volume of crime, but does not take into account the severity of crimes (...)"

"Most offences were down in 2013. The decline in the CSI was specifically attributable to declines in breaking and entering and robbery. Decreases in some of the less serious but very frequent offences, such as theft of $5,000 or under and mischief, also contributed to the drop in the CSI."

"However, some offences were up in 2013. In particular, police services reported more incidents of extortion, child pornography, aggravated sexual assault (level 3), sexual violations against children and identity fraud."

"How would you describe your job to other people?
The Law Library of Congress provides legal research and
reports to Congress pursuant to their requests, and it often entails
some aspect of comparative law. It also receives requests from other
parts of the federal government, and from private patrons. As an intern
with the Global Legal Research Directorate, I conduct research and
write reports in response to requests. Under the supervision of Foreign
Law Specialist Nicolas Boring, I cover not only Canadian law but also
French civil law jurisdictions including countries such as Mali,
Cameroon and Burundi. Ultimately, I come into work every day ready to
take on whatever task needs to be done!"

"Why did you want to work at the Law Library of Congress?
For any young lawyer, the opportunity to be surrounded by
such an immense and vast collection is remarkable. Not only is the
collection impressive, but what is equally impressive is having the
research information analysts, experts in their own field, able to help
refine searches and find materials. This collection, combined with the
possibility of working with lawyers from across the globe, made me want
to be a part of this remarkable team."

"I also appreciate the public service aspect of working for government
and being able to provide reference answers to citizens. The ‘Ask a
Librarian’ service is open to anyone, anytime, anywhere. The range of
questions we receive is quite astounding. It is exciting to face a new
challenge every day and constantly learn about legal traditions across
the globe."

The Law Library of Congress is the world’s largest law library, with a collection of over 2.65 million volumes from all ages of history and virtually every jurisdiction in the world.

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Laws of the FIFA World Cup

The post describes the massive rule book that governs World Cup matches as well as some of the legal controversies surrounding the conditions Brazil had to accept in order to host the event.

Earlier Library Boy posts that discuss sports and the law include:

From Lawyers' Wigs to Baseball Uniforms (March 9, 2006): "The Law Library Journal
(American Association of Law Libraries) published 'Baseball and the
Law: A Selected Annotated Bibliography, 1990–2004' in the spring of
2005."

World Cup 2006 in Germany - The Law on Doping in Sports
(May 26, 2006): "The World Cup of Soccer, perhaps the world's greatest
sporting extravaganza with the exception of the Summer Olympic Games, is
taking place this June in Germany. And where there's international
sports, there's the use of performance-enhancing drugs, or 'doping'
(...) So what laws and regulations apply to sports and doping?"

New Law Library Journal Articles (September 6, 2006): "We have just received Law Library Journal vol. 98, no. 3 (Summer 2006) at the Supreme Court of Canada library. Among the articles that caught my attention: (...) Exploring the Court of Arbitration for Sport:
'The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), recognized as an emerging
leader in international sports dispute resolution, was created
specifically to address sports-related matters. Since its formation, the
CAS has addressed a wide range of sports-related issues, including
matters pertaining to the positive drug tests of athletes, the
challenges to technical decisions of officials made during competition,
and the eligibility of athletes to compete in the Olympic Games. Of
significance, CAS awards have been recognized as developing a lex
sportiva, that is, a set of guiding principles and rules in
international sports law'. "

New Internet Research Guide for Olympic Studies
(April 2, 2008): "Intute, a British university consortium that offers
free online service access to evaluated web resources for education and
research, has just published a new subject booklet entitled 'Internet
resources for Olympic studies'. The booklet describes resources relating
to associations, the history of the Olympic Games, past and future
Games, athletes, sports research, event management, and legal issues
(arbitration of sports disputes, disability sports, gender equity and
doping)."

Law and the Olympics
(January 6, 2010): "Blogosaurus Lex, the blog from the Legal Resource
Centre of Alberta, had a post in December on Law and the Olympics."

Updated Research Guide on International Sports Law
(August 31, 2011): "The GlobaLex collection at the New York University
School of Law has just updated its International Sports Law research
guide. It looks at the key institutions governing international sports
(...) There are sections on doping, women and sports, violence as well
as suggested sports law bibliographies, databases and periodicals."

English Law Commission Report on Data Sharing Between Public Bodies

The Commission is asking the UK government to launch a full-scale, UK-wide law reform
project by the Law Commission of England and Wales, together with the Scottish Law Commission and the Northern Ireland Law Commission, to map the many statutory provisions that permit and control
data sharing, simplify and clarify the law so that it is easier to
understand and use, and bring the law up to date:

"The law surrounding data sharing is complex. Powers to share data are
scattered across a very large number of statutes and may be set out
expressly or implied. In addition, there are common law powers."

"In this scoping project we considered the following questions:

Are there hurdles to effective data sharing between public bodies (including private bodies engaged in public service delivery)?

Are those hurdles inappropriate?

How far do problems in data sharing stem from the law?

How far do problems in data sharing stem from other
causes, such as a lack of training or guidance, organisational
incentives and disincentives?

Would law reform solve or mitigate the problems? (...)"

"We consider that the project could usefully include consideration of the functions of the Information Commissioner in relation to data sharing, including the Commissioner’s enforcement role. The work of other bodies providing advice and guidance should be explored to improve the consistent application of data sharing law across government and in public service delivery more widely."

"The investigation should also include consideration of 'soft law' solutions such as codes of practice, as well as advice and guidance, training of staff, and ways of sharing best practice in the management of data sharing between public bodies."

Saturday, July 12, 2014

Slaw.ca Founder Simon Fodden Among Fastcase 50 Legal Innovators

Simon Fodden, the founder of Slaw.ca, Canada's preeminent online legal magazine, has been recognized as one of this year's Fastcase 50 which honours people considered to be pioneers and innovators in the delivery of legal services.

Fastcase is an American-based provider of electronic versions of primary law (cases, statutes, regulations, court rules, and constitutions) from all 50 U.S. states and the U.S. federal government.

Monday, July 07, 2014

WestlawNext User Annotations Stored on US Servers

Bronwyn Guiton, a librarian at the Vancouver law firm Lawson Lundell LLP, has compiled responses from Canadian law librarians regarding WestlawNext user-made annotations being stored on servers in the USA, thus making them subject to the US Patriot Act.

"WestlawNext is a new version of Westlaw that is being rolled out –or
has already been rolled out— to subscribers. On WestlawNext, users can
now add their own notes or highlighting ('annotations') to a decision,
case, or journal article. For example, a lawyer can annotate a paragraph
of a decision to say, 'Note to self – the damages aspect of this
discussion could be useful for my closing arguments for XYZ case'."

"The issue is that annotations are stored on servers in the United States and therefore subject to the Patriot Act."

"The decision on how to deal with annotations will ultimately come
down to your organization’s answers to the following questions:"

"Is it problematic that annotations are stored on servers located in the United States?"

"If the answer is yes, then:

Is it enough to remind lawyers not to record confidential information
in the annotations in WestlawNext, or must this feature be supressed so
that users can’t see it and use it at all?"

Sunday, July 06, 2014

Colloquium Report of the Action Committee on Access to Justice in Civil and Family Matters

The Action Committee on Access to Justice in Civil and Family Matters is a broad-based committee established by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada Beverley McLachlin.

It is chaired by Supreme Court of Canada Justice Thomas Cromwell. Members of the committee include the Canadian Bar Association, Justice Canada, and the Canadian Judicial Council. It works to identify ways to reduce barriers to access to the civil justice system.

After releasing its final report in October 2013, the Committee decided to organize a colloquium in January 2014 to work on practical steps to improve the situation.

"Following the release of the Action Committee’s ﬁnal report, Access to Civil & Family Justice: A Roadmap for Change (Final Report), a series of locally organized
access to justice events were held across Canada to introduce the Final Report to
local stakeholders and justice leaders, encourage action-oriented responses for
reform, and provide focus and encouragement for local access to justice initiatives.
Held primarily throughout the Fall of 2013, these local events culminated in the
national Action Committee Colloquium, which took place on January 27-28, 2014 in
Toronto. The purpose of the colloquium was to bring together leaders in the ﬁeld of
access to justice from across Canada to share “best practices”, showcase examples of
successful and innovative programs and reforms, discuss common challenges, and
begin developing action-oriented access to justice initiatives. Over the course of two
days, delegates worked together in plenary and small breakout sessions to workshop
strategies for reaching the goals laid out in the Final Report."

"This report on the Colloquium provides an overview of the Colloquium discussions
and a summary of the key messages of those who participated in the two-day event.
It attempts to capture the comments, suggestions and major points of dialogue.
In addition to providing an overview and summary of the major discussion threads,
it also highlights examples provided by participants of initiatives, programs and
innovations that are currently working in various jurisdictions."

"Our hope is that the ideas and collaborations born at this Colloquium and recorded
in this report will serve as the ﬁrst of many future collaborations and projects that
bring together justice stakeholders at all levels, from across multiple jurisdictions, to
move forward a Canada-wide discussion on innovation and action
in access to justice."

Wednesday, July 02, 2014

English Law Commission Report on Fiduciary Duties of Investment Intermediaries

"In this report we have considered the question of long-term investment
with particular reference to pensions, where liabilities will typically
be incurred over a long period (...)"

"We conclude that trustees should take into account factors which are
financially material to the performance of an investment. Where trustees
think ethical or environmental, social or governance (ESG) issues are
financially material they should take them into account."

"We also conclude that, whilst the pursuit of a financial
return should be the predominant concern of pension trustees, the law is
sufficiently flexible to allow other, subordinate, concerns to be taken
into account. The law permits trustees to make investment decisions
that are based on non-financial factors, provided that:

they have good reason to think that scheme members share the concern, and

Disclaimer

Neither the content nor the views contained in this blog represent the positions of my employer or of any association to which I belong. Any links to a news article, an academic study or another blog post should not be considered to indicate any form of endorsement on my part or on that of my institution. This is a purely personal blog for the purposes of sharing information about library issues and legal research.